Moments in time
by JustAWriterWannaBe
Summary: Just a couple of glimpses into time during the lives of our characters.


_**Author's Notes:**_  
Thank you for reading my story, I hope you enjoy it.  
It takes place somewhere in the fifth season time-frame.  
No particular reference points needed.  
No spoilers. (Unless you didn't already know Kevin & Jenny are married.)

* * *

_**Story Notes:**_  
I had originally written the first part of this in 2012 and it has languished in a pile of other things left unfinished. I decided to try to combine it with another story idea I had about three years later. I have been wanting to see the girls get the better of the guys for _a while_ and a story fragment came to me without any surrounding glue. Just recently I decided to try and bring the two pieces together. I bumped into it and decided I'd give it a quick polish for a few minutes and then post it.

* * *

"Okay bro' looks like your turn to break." Esposito says to Ryan.

"Castle, you in on this one?" Ryan calls out.

"No thanks, you two are cleaning me out. Looks like it's not my night. I'll watch this time. You guys need a refill?"

"I'll take another cup of coffee for now." Esposito says "I'll wait until Lanie and Jenny get here."

"Ryan? How about you?" Castle asks "Beckett? You?"

"That's a good idea. I'll take one too." Ryan agrees.

"Since you're buying, I'll take another one of these please." Beckett chime in.

"You sure Detective? You're driving tonight and you have an image to uphold." Castle says.

"Yeah I'm sure, I think I can handle my drinks, don't worry, I know my limit." Beckett laughs taking a seat near the pool table.

"Okay, two cups of coffee and a virgin strawberry daiquiri for the lady." Castle announces to the group as he heads for the bar.

A moment later, he hears "Lanie! We're back here!" Beckett calls out seeing her friend and Jenny come through the door. "Hey Ryan, you're in trouble, the wife's here." she says over her shoulder.

"Hello Kate! Hi Javi! Kevin honey, how much have you lost tonight?" Jenny says taking off her coat.

"Not a bit dear, Castle's on the losing end of this game." Ryan says finishing his break.

"Javi, you'd better not be losing either, you still owe me for breaking our date the other night." Lanie chides.

"Chica, I didn't break that date, I got called into work, I didn't have a choice in the matter." Esposito says trying to plead his case.

"Young man, I don't want to hear your excuses, the only thing that matters is that you didn't take me to dinner as you promised."

"But!" Esposito starts to say, standing with his arms wide, seeking support from his friends and getting none.

"No but's Detective." Lanie says dismissively waving a hand in his direction.

"Javi, like they say on 'Car Talk', do you want to be right or do you want to be happy?" Castle says standing next to him.

Accepting his fate and shaking his head, Esposito puts his coffee cup down on the side of the pool table to take another shot while Ryan sits down at the other high-top table.

"Kevin dear, can you get us some drinks?" Jenny calls out to her husband.

"Sure." he says jumping off his seat. "Lanie, the usual?" he asks as he makes his way to the bar.

"Yes Ryan, thank you." she says as she hangs up her coat on the hook.

"Espo, you want that beer now? Castle?"

"Yes please." Esposito calls out as he tries to run the table.

"Thanks Ryan, I'll take a half beer tonight, I need to work when I get home." Castle says watching the women at the table next to where he's sitting.

"So, how about you Kate, how was your long weekend?" Jenny asks settling in.

"You beat me to it Jenny, I've been dying to ask her the same thing, did you folks do anything fun?" Lanie adds with a mischievous twinkle in her eye.

"It was nice, it's been a long time since long stretches of free time have been fun for me. It was awkward at first as you can imagine but we had a blast. He and Alexis invited me to play laser tag. He offered to have it be girls against guys."

"Oh that damn fool!" Lanie says sitting back and laughing.

"I'd like to think so. He and Alexis can play this game for fifteen or twenty minutes between scores, I let him and Alexis play first and I just watched. It was hilarious, Alexis is really good at it but it only took him about fifteen minutes to nail her. Then, it was really me and Alexis against him and I got him in about ten minutes flat. He stomped his feet like a little boy and we went for a rematch, that one took less than five minutes. Alexis was on the floor laughing at him, she was bright red she was laughing so hard."

"That wasn't funny Beckett! I was trying to let you win so you didn't feel awkward!" Castle says from the other side of the pool table as Kevin puts drinks down for each of the women and carries three mugs of beer over to where the guys are at the pool table.

"That was very nice of you Castle!" Beckett yells back laughing.

"Honey, you shouldn't damage that fragile male ego." Lanie says quietly to just Kate and Jenny.

"Oh I didn't, Alexis defended him, making a number of good arguments in his favor." Kate says.

"Well, that's good." Jenny adds.

"Yeah, she rattled them off quickly like she's been practicing them. 'The sun was in his eyes.' or 'The trigger on his gun is sticky and doesn't always work.' or 'Maybe the gun needs to be recharged' or my favorite 'He didn't hear you yell GO to begin the game.'" Kate says.

"I can hear you over here Beckett!" Castle yells again.

"That's good Castle, let me know if I get any of the details wrong!" Beckett says taking another draw on her drink and winking at the other women.

"Bro', just accept defeat quietly and don't make it harder for the rest of us." Esposito says to Castle between shots.

"I'd like to see how you guys would've done in that game." Castle says to the men.

"We're not going down that road again!" Ryan blurts out as he misses his shot.

"What do you mean 'again'?" Castle asks.

"It's a long story." Esposito responds halfheartedly concentrating on his shot.

"I don't mind a long story, I'm in no hurry."

"Okay, here's the story." Ryan starts "A few years ago one of Captain Montgomery's friends from another precinct challenged a group of us to a game of paintball. Seems that there was this neat warehouse on the waterfront that a friend of Roy's would let us use for tactical games. He got the whole thing including the contents for a dollar at an auction. He invited the local cops to use it, y'know, good guys verses bad guys or whatever. It was supposed to be very similar to a real invasion for practice we could trash the place and he didn't care."

"How'd it go?" Castle asks, very curious now.

"So, there's six of us against six of them. Beckett quickly takes out two of their guys, kind of like she took you out of your game Castle. I think she fired three shots total." Ryan continues.

"What happened then?" Castle prompts, anxious to get the details.

Ryan perks up a bit and explains, almost apologetically, "Then Esposito got to work. It seems no one remembered about how good Espo was at what he did. He took out three of the other four guys on the opposing team without firing a single shot."

"How the hell did you do that Javi?" Castle asks, now standing at the table nearer to the women so he can work on his beer without being in the way.

"Oh, he doesn't like to discuss this." Ryan interrupts "It turns out we had our own Rambo on our team, he snuck up on the other team members sticking his gun into their ribs and taking their guns from them and rounding them up without firing a shot."

"And the fourth guy?" Rick prompts hoping for more of a good story.

"He ran into L.T." Esposito answers as if that's enough of an explanation.

"Ran into?" Castle asks looking around at the group in confusion.

"Yeah." Ryan laughs and explains "He ran _into_ L.T., You know how that guy is all muscle. This other guy was trying to escape, or out-flank us, no one was really sure but he was running at high speed across the warehouse when L.T. stepped out from behind some crates. It was like the guy ran into a brick wall. _Blammo!_ He got the wind knocked out of him and he went down like a sack of potatoes hitting his head on the floor. They called an ambulance to look after him. L.T., you know how nice the guy is, was all apologetic and worried that he'd hurt this guy when all he had done was stand there. They never decided if his concussion was from L.T. or from the concrete floor."

"Oh that's precious!" Castle says "What'd you guys get out of the deal?"

"Nothing." Esposito says without looking up from his next shot. It's obvious that he doesn't really want to discuss it.

Looking confused, Castle asks Ryan "What does he mean?"

Beckett decides to tell the story now "Captain Montgomery was smart enough to know what was going to happen so he sort of 'chickened out' of the bet suggesting that the winner purchases pizza and beer for the losing team instead of the other way around. The other captain ... I can't remember his name ... well whatever it was, he was this macho dinosaur, he thought Montgomery was scared of losing because he had two women on his team so he took the bet. The two of them didn't speak for months after the game finished. Roy made it really clear to us to never mention the game to anyone much less the outcome. It was really awkward working with those guys when our paths crossed after that."

"Well, it was sort of unfair for Roy to choose Javi, I mean the guy's really good, everyone knows it along with his military background." Castle says.

"The six participants were drawn from a hat, everyone's name was put into a hat and the other team chose the names." Beckett continues "Roy tried to weasel things so that Javi wouldn't be chosen but the other Captain insisted that everyone's names get put into the hat, he even put his top tactical guy in too."

"Well, I suppose if he'd been drawn it'd have been a different outcome." Castle responds, stating the obvious almost just to himself.

"Nope." Ryan says.

"No? Why not?" Jenny asks a little surprised.

"He _was_ chosen, he's the first one that Espo captured without firing a shot." Ryan laughs missing his shot.

"Oh." Castle says contemplating the scenario then after a moment of thought he asks "Who was the other woman chosen?"

"Roselyn Karpowski" says Ryan like they're speaking of a reverent person.

"Why do you say it like that?" Castle asks.

Beckett lets out a sigh. "We feel sorry for her in this case. She was the only one on our side shot."

"That's not a disgrace, so why the heavy voices?" Castle asks to a sudden silence in the group.

After a long pause "It's not that she got picked off, it's _how_ she got it that makes us feel sorry for her." Beckett explains. Turning to look at him squarely "You keep this to yourself Castle. She's not to be teased about it. If you do, we'll _all_ take offense."

"Umm... Yeah, Okay, I understand." he says with a slight nervous edge to his voice.

"Karpowski was hiding behind some cases and was working her way around the flank so that she could get the drop on two of them. It was a really smart move and she was doing well. She was on her hands and knees when one of the opponent's guys thought he saw something move and panicked and threw some wild shots in her direction, she backed up and..." she fades off.

"And? Come on, you're killing me here." he prompts her to continue.

"Castle, you mention this to her and we'll make your life miserable." Esposito says glaring at him from his bent over position at the pool table.

"I won't, I promise."

Now, in a bit of a quieter voice she explains "When the wild shots hit around her, she backed up and she was partially exposed and... she got hit about a half-dozen times... ummmm... in the ass."

Much to everyone's surprise Castle doesn't laugh, he immediately feels for her. "Damn, that's rotten."

"She had 'image' issues before that happened and afterwards she was really self-conscious. We pulled the other team aside and read them the riot-act to make sure no one gives her any grief about it. Ryan, ever the gentleman, pulled his pants off right there and gave them to her and since we were all wearing tactical clothes and his were about her size, no one was the wiser. Ryan just said his got caught on a nail and got ripped up."

"That's my honey-milk." Jenny says in Kevin's direction causing Esposito to burst out laughing, completely missing his shot and falling onto the pool table face first in hysterics.

"Aw geeze! Jenny, I asked you not to do that in public." Kevin groans.

"He gets such a cute blush on his face when he gets embarrassed." Jenny shares with the other women.

"Hey Beckett" Castle calls out, "Is that misogynist still around?"

"No, he left the force in disgrace. You'd like this story." she answers "Hey Espo, who was that judge he insulted?" she asks half-turning to talk to Esposito who's still giggling.

"I'm not sure, Harness, Harkness or something like that. They called her Hard-Ass because of her no nonsense attitude. She is the one that Hard-Candy, the federal prosecutor, is scared of." he answers.

Turning back to Rick "Anyway, he met her at the courthouse for a special conference with some other people one day but didn't know who she was. At the time, she was a very young looking woman, she's from Central America or something and she had a real attractive glow about her. She was still new to the bench and not everyone knew who she was. Anyway, Roy was there along with a few other Captains when this guy, this other captain, walks into her office and says something stupid to her like 'Hey babe, can you get me a coffee while I wait for your boss.' She got pissed and said '**Ex-**cuse me?' and he, not content with just being stupid, went for full-on-moronic and said to her something like 'Don't get your panties in a twist there señorita, I'll put in a good word for you with your boss when he gets here.' Castle, if you were writing the narrative, this is where you'd say 'and the cannon went off'. She was _steaming_ mad, she walked over to the phone, called the bailiffs, made sure they were both women, and had him bodily taken into custody for contempt of court and thrown into a holding cell in full dress uniform. No one had any sympathy for him either. The commissioner showed up at the meeting and, not seeing him, asked if he'd arrived yet, the judge told him what happened and after the meeting he went down to talk to him. The next day he apologized to her in open court, paid a five-thousand dollar fine and handed her an apology letter and his resignation."

"Sounds like he got what he deserved." Rick says taking a sip of his beer.

"I hate to tell you guys but that attitude isn't dead and buried either." Kevin says as he joins them at the high-top they're standing around. "If you meet some of my uncles from the old country, you'll still see it. Most of them try to ignore their up-bringing and act like they're enlightened but occasionally it sneaks through." he pauses to take a short swig of his drink. "The good part is that most of the women in their lives can be more frightening than a pissed off Beckett, so they know to keep it to themselves for fear of their losing favorite appendages."

Both of the other men instinctively look at Beckett and give a little shudder before turning back to Ryan. "Kev'," Esposito says, "tell Castle about your only single uncle."

Castle, ever the slut for a good tale, fixes his eyes on Kevin and waits for him to tell the story.

"It's not much of a story, he is what would be called the black sheep of the family, he hasn't been able to find a woman to meet his, quote, high standards." Ryan says smirking and making quote marks in the air.

"Why? What's he want from a woman?" Castle asks, biting firmly on the bait and hook.

"His favorite saying was that he wasn't going to get married until, as he put it, 'He finds a good Irish woman who knows her place.'" he says almost unable to speak it without laughing.

"And he still has his favorite toys attached?" Castle asks wryly.

"Oddly enough, yes he does. We don't know how but he does." Ryan answers. "Javi, your cousin is right up there with him in the jerk category."

"Yeah, he is but somehow the guy gets almost as much action as the old Richard Castle used to get." Esposito says as he finishes clearing the pool table and joining them at their high-top.

"I never could understand that." Kevin says staring into his beer.

"What?" Castle prompts.

"How a guy like that can get so much action. I remember my days in school, being the nice guy and watching the hot chicks walk away with the jerks and the jocks."

Patting him on the back Esposito reminds him "But it was all worth it so you could get Jenny right?"

"Yeah, it was worth the effort." he says smiling at his wife, the love of his life.

As the three men talk, they hear their group of women at the next table give off a decidedly feminine giggle prompting Esposito, in a playful manner call out to them "Hey girls, keep it down over there, the men-folk are talking."

The glare he gets from the three women is only slightly more scary than the glare he is getting from the two men at the table with him.

"Dude, your Kevlar won't protect you against what they're thinking now." Ryan chides.

"Javi, you disappoint me. I don't mind if _you_ aren't looking to get any this year but the rest of us would still like to have a shot at it." Castle says, sort of 'out of the side of his mouth'.

"I was _kidding!_" Espo calls out only to be met by a narrow eyed stare from both Lanie and Kate.

"Wooooo!" Ryan says quietly to Castle, the terror and caution obvious.

"Chills the blood doesn't it?" Castle whispers back to him.

"Yeah. That boy's naughty bits are in serious danger now."

"Naughty bits?" Castle asks with a smirk at Ryan.

"Sorry, Catholic school." Ryan laughs.

As the night wore on, conversations ran the gamut of topics as they always do with various comments made by all parties. After his faux pas Javi was responsible for getting the girls drinks for the rest of the night and every time he put them on the table he says "Here are your drinks and I really do apologize for my bad joke."

"Javi!" Ryan calls from the pool table, "Your turn!"

* * *

_A little while later, across town..._

* * *

"Richard? Where's your other shoe?" Martha asks as he stormed through the front door making a bee-line for his bedroom.

"Hello Martha." Kate says calmly walking in behind him.

"Hello Kate. What's eating him? Where's his shoe?"

Kate starts to explain as she closes the door and hangs up her coat. "He had to throw it away Martha, it was hilarious."

_"No it wasn't!"_ Castle yells from the other room. (They can't see him but he's grinning like a fool, secretly pleased with the laugh they had, even if it was at his expense.)

"Oh my god! What smells of beer? Is that Richard? It's only eight pm!" Martha asks turning her nose up at the smell.

"Yes. Richard took a shower in beer."

"_Not funny Beckett!_" Castle angrily calls out again from his bedroom trying to mask the smile from his voice.

"So tell me Kate, what happened?" Martha asks enthusiastically both women obviously ignoring his protests.

Kate walks over to the couch and takes a seat with Martha and starts to explain. "We were all at the Haunt, me and Rick, Javi and Lanie, Kevin and Jenny. The boys were playing pool while the three of us girls were sitting at a high-top table chatting and the boys were acting all tough and such. Like we were their damsels depending on them for our survival. I got sick of it and Jenny said she wished she could teach them a lesson and put them in their place."

"Woo hoo!" Martha exclaims "I hear a good story coming!"

"_MOTHER!_" Castle yells from his bedroom again.

Kate rolls her eyes and continues "I finally hit on an idea."

_"__**You are a wicked woman Katherine Beckett!**_**"** He calls out to her.

Ignoring his protests, Kate continues "So anyway I whispered to Jenny what to do when I give her the signal. I knew Lanie would be ready to play along and I just waited, I was sure that I'd get my chance soon enough. Then it hit. The three guys were between games, each of them were standing there with their cue sticks and a mug of beer in their hands and Javi made some stupid macho statement and the boys started to laugh and toast each other then they started to drink their beers. I signaled Jenny and she asked _'So you two have been coworkers for almost fourteen years?'_ I reached over and wrapped my arm around Lanie's waist and put my head on her shoulder and said, not too quietly, _'Yes and for the first four we were lovers.'_"

"Oh dear god! You _didn't_!" Martha cries.

"Oh _yes I did_." Kate reassures her with a big grin.

"_**NOT SO FREAKIN' FUNNY BECKETT!**_" comes from the bedroom again.

"Almost instantly a cloud of fine beer mist engulfed the three guys as they lost their beer into each other's faces. Kevin lost his grip on his mug and it fell to the floor and it landed _just right_ so that the beer in it sloshed around and left the mug like it was shot from a water cannon hitting Castle right about the belt buckle, soaking him from his chest all the way down to his knees. He dropped his beer and it splashed all over Javi's legs and the mug bounced onto his toe causing Javi to scream and jump around like a fool. This caused him to drop his beer in such a way that it almost all went into Castle's left shoe."

At this point, Martha's doubled over in laughter and Kate's crying again from the bizarre situation as Castle comes out of his bedroom changed and washed and not smelling of beer again. "This is _not_ funny you two!" he protested to deaf ears calling on almost all of the acting skills his mother had taught him to not laugh with them.

"Oh... Oh Martha." Kate says between strained breaths "You should have seen Jenny's face! She was in hysterics at this point. These three macho men almost couldn't breath and their eyes were as wide as hubcaps."

"Oh I'm sure!" Martha squeaks out while laughing still.

"I give up." Castle says throwing up his hands and he heads into his office acting like he's going to sulk when in truth he's going to hide behind the bookcase and listen in.

Kate continues "Poor Lanie was this beautiful deep maroon color and almost falling on the floor, she was in tears and she couldn't breath, she was trying to suck in air and had a death grip on the chair so she didn't fall."

Martha's now laughing so hard she almost can't breath either. "Oh you're killing me Kate! This is so brilliant!"

"Martha, you should have seen Kevin, he looked like he was from an old cartoon, his hand still shaped like he was holding his beer his eyes wide and he just stood there, statue like, you could see his brain on overload. The only thing it lacked was the word _'tilt'_ flashing on his forehead."

"I wish Alexis could have heard this. Oh god this is _too_ funny!" Martha says between breaths. "I don't think I've seen anyone get the better of Richard like this in twenty years. I wish I was there for it. This is just too funny."

"There's more." Kate says scooting to the edge of the sofa seat. "Javi's jumping around caused him to whack into a high-top table that we'd stacked our empty plates and a couple of empty glasses on. That crashed to the floor and Castle, Mister Macho Primo himself, screams like a little girl and twists around with his cue stick still in his hand and he whacks the rack of sticks dumping them all onto the floor making Kevin come out of his coma and also scream."

"Oh god..." Martha chokes out between breaths. "Oh dear god Kate. This is..." she has to fight to breath, "this is so sweet."

"Jenny's laughing so hard she actually peed herself. She was crying from all the laughter, she just couldn't stop crying she was laughing so hard and every time Kevin would admonish her, she'd laugh more. Martha, you should have seen the _looks_ on the faces of everyone as they walked out of the back of the Haunt to leave, guys were cracking up at them and Brian behind the bar was biting his lip to keep from laughing, he actually drew blood."

The two giggle hysterically for while before, taking a deep breath, Martha regains enough equilibrium to ask "So then what happened?"

Kate wipes her eyes and says "So we're going to leave and here's Castle walking through the place _squish-thump-squish-thump_ with his one soaked shoe, he kicks off his shoe halfway to the door and throws it in the trash, now we've got _thump-thwap-thump-thwap_ of him looking stupid with one shoe and his kitty-cat socks he was wearing on a dare. Followed by Kevin being lead by Jenny like he was a zombie, she's actually pulling him by his tie like its a leash and taking up the rear is Lanie with Javi limping right behind her, his eyes still wide and glassy trying to keep looking straight ahead, Lanie yells to him _'If you so much as look at my ass once you'll not see it again for a month!'_ in front of everyone. To which he responds with 'Yes ma'am.' and his eyes still straight ahead."

At this point Martha's only making little squeaking noises she's laughing so hard and having trouble breathing. Kate's makeup is ruined by the crying and the wiping, she's still crying and wiping and can't seem to stop.

Castle comes out of his office almost stomping to make his point of how ticked off he is at being the brunt of their humor. "Do you two _think_ you can collect yourselves?" He asks as if he's truly put out by the situation.

"Oh Castle! Come on! It's funny! Even you know it." Kate giggles out while Martha makes wheezing sounds.

"Richard." his mother finally gets out. "Stop being a poor sport."

"_**Mother!**_"

"Oh don't 'Mother' me Richard dear. You're usually the smartest person in the room. You're also one of the sharpest anyone will meet. To see this lovely lady get the better of you is precious. It proves how good you two are for each other."

Now turning on his smile he simply says "Yeah. I know." causing the two women to suddenly look at him. "I knew right after I got my soaking that it was cosmic payback and they deserved to have this fun at my expense so I went along with it acting put out."

"Castle, that almost ruins it but thank you." Kate says standing up and giving him a peck on the cheek.

Now looking at his mother he agrees "You're right mother. She _is_ perfect for me and it _was_ delicious letting her get not just the upper hand but also a solid set of ego slap-downs for me and the boys. I'm sure we deserved at least some of it but it was all in fun so I don't mind being the foil." then after a quick pause "As long as no one tells the others."

"Richard, at this point, no one will believe it anyway." his mother says getting up from the couch and patting him on the shoulder and winking at Kate. "After that laugh, I'm going to float away. Thank you Kate, it was great."

"You're welcome Martha." the detective answers then quietly says "Come on Rick, time for me to make it up to you."


End file.
